Founded in 2013, the Carleton University Graduate Legal Studies Society (CUGLSS) includes students from the MA and PhD program in Legal Studies. In 1991, Carleton became the first University in Canada to offer an MA in Legal Studies and, beginning in the Fall of 2011, the program grew to include PhD students.
The mandate of CUGLSS is to encourage scholarly dialogue and a sense of community among MA and PhD graduate students. Since its inception in 2013 CUGLSS has been responsible for sponsoring and planning the annual Graduate Legal Studies Conference that takes place in March. Additionally CUGLSS strives to plan and execute social events that are open and inclusive of all graduate students for their enjoyment and relaxation. Its primary purpose, however, is to act as a forum from which graduate students can legitimately voice their thoughts and concerns as to how the program can be improved.
CUGLSS is an open membership society, all graduate students in the department comprise its membership. It strives to have at least three general membership meetings a semester that all members can attend. All attending graduate students have the opportunity to become informed about upcoming events in the department as well as vote on important issues concerning them.